Improvement in preserve-cans



as tin, glass, &c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

THEoDoRE SELLERS, or' EAST BIRMINGHAM, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN, PRESER-VEeCANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 28,4 I3, dated May 252,1860.

To all whom t muy concern.

Be it known that I, THEODO'RE SELLERS, of East Birmingham, in the countyof Allegheny and State of `Pennsylvania,fhave invented a new and usefulimprovement in the mode of hermetically sealipg serving fruit,vegetables, &c. g and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and

l exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexeddrawings, forming part 'of this specication, in which- Figure Irepresents a vertical section of a fruit-jar with the cap or coverplaced on the orifice, but `not pressed down to seal4 the jar. Fig. IIis a vertical section of the jar shown in Fig. 1, with the cap or coverpressed down so as to close and hermetically seal it.

In bothiigures like letters of reference are used to denote similarparts.

`My invention is designed to furnish a cheap, simple, andgel'ectual modeof closing fruit-jars, which shall, in ad'dition to a perfect exclusionof the external air, present the advantages of great simplicity and easevol' application, with protection of the india-rubber or otherrelasticsubstance used for sealing from exposure to displacement.

Tol enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The bottle, jar, or can (marked a) may be d made of glass, stoneware,tin, or other suitable material, and of any convenient shape or size,having a neck, Z), which had better be made slightly tapering upward,although this is not absolutely necessary. About half-way down the neckofthe bottle lis a groove, c, which surrounds the exterior of the neck,the section of which in the plane of the axis of the jar is asemicircle, or nearly so, as seen in Fig. l. At the mouth of the jar theedge is turnedf outward slightly all around, so as to form anotherrecess or groove around the neck, as seen at e, Fig. 2, which isdesigned 'to keep the india-rubber` ring from slipping ofi the neck ofthe bottle or .jar `when the cap is removed. The cap or covering d ofthe jar is made of the shape of the frustum of a cone,

and maybe made of any suitable material, It is close-.at *the top, andhas two annular grooves in its interior, which surround the cover, thesection of which in the plane of the axis of the cap is nearly semijarsand bottles for pre-y `same distance apart as the grooves c and e in theexterior ofthe neck of the jar. `The lower groove, z', in the inside ofthe cap d surrounds the edge or bottom of the cap, and the'upper groove,n, isias'far above the groove z' as the groove c in the neck of theiaris below the groove e. The diameter of the cap. is such that when setdown over the neck of the jar, with the groove u in the cap opposite tothe groove c in the neck of the jar, the cap d shall very nearlytouchthe neck of the jar.

The packing which I interpose between the neck of the bottle and theinner surface of the cap to exclude the air is a cylindrical ring, h,

- of india-rubber ongutta-percha, or other suitable elastic substance,the ring being of -such diameter aste lit tightly around the neck of thebottle where its diameter is smallest.

My inode of applying the cap and india rubber te the neck of the bottleor jar constructed as described is as follows: Vhen it is desired toseal up a jar, the india-rubber ring is placed over the neck of thebottle so as to rest in the groove e just below the edge or rim of theneck. TheA cap is then placed over the bottle, with the'inner surface ofthe neck resting 011 thebuter edge of the indiarubber ring, as seen inFig. l, just against thev upper edge of the lower groove, z', in thecap.

The groove i is not necessary, however, as the lower edge of the cap maybe nished by turning down the edges of the cap, if of tin, so as tostrengthen it, care being taken to make the mouth of the cap llargeenough to pass over the india-rubber ring when placed on it. The cap isthen pressed evenly down over the neck of the bottle, and as the capcannot pass over the ring without compressing it, it causes the ring tomake a revolution on its axis, passing down with the cap` around theneck of the jar until the groove n in the cap comes opposite to 'the'groove c in the neck of the jar, when the ring slips into the groove cin the` neck of the jar, and also into the groove n in the inside of theca 9 `when it expands, so as to fill completely both grooves, as seen inFig. 2,- so tightly as to form a perfectly air-tight' joint. XVlien inthis position, (seen in'Fig. 2,) the cap is kept rmly in though theindiafrubber ring is compressed between the cap and neck of the jar, itis n ot place, because, alf so much compressed as it was immediatelybefore it slipped into the grooves c and n, and

- thus it will require considerable force to raise and the india-rubberring is thus rolled up the neck of the jar by the pressure of thev cap,

l until it rests in the recess or groove fi around the edge of thencckof the jar, by which it is prevented from being` pulled entirely away"from the jar. 'This is a great advantage, as it avoids the liability oflosing the ring, which is `nota1 1 in the way after the jar is opened. lMy improvement also possesses a great superiority over thoseco'ntrivanccs for sealing jars iuwhich the piece of india-rubber usedfor sealing the jar Vis exposed when the jar is sealed, as by my plan itis entirely protected -by thefcap or cover.

f My improved mode of sealing jars or bot.-

tles ma be used to advantage for other pur poses t an thatlof sealingpreserve-jars, as itl is applicable to the orifice of bottles used formedicines,spirits, and volatile fluids, the'readif .nessv with which itmay be applied and the. simplicity of its construction rendering itlit-V tle liable to get out of order.

Having thus described my lmprovement in y the mode of .hermeticallysealing jars orbottles, what I claim as my invention,'and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The'use of a cylindrical ringv of indiarub; I ber or other elasticmaterial, in combination with and-interposed between the neck of abottle or jar, and its tap or cover, 'each having a corresponding grooveor recess for the reception of the ring, constructed andarrangedsubstantiallyashereinbefore described. In testimony whereof' I,the said THEODORE SELLERS, have hereunto set vmy hand. A

THEODORE- SELLERS.

NVitnesses:

MARTIN G. CUSHING,

J oHN CAMPBELL.

